


Origin Stories

by Dimensional_Nexus



Series: MCarmillaU [1]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Crossover, F/F, F/M, Flashbacks, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-13 10:00:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21492469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dimensional_Nexus/pseuds/Dimensional_Nexus
Summary: Silas University is no stranger to odd occurences, but nothing could have prepared it for what happens when the worlds of troubled, passionate ex-superhero Laura Hollis and SHIELD Agent Carmilla Karnstein come crashing together.
Relationships: Carmilla Karnstein & James "Bucky" Barnes, Carmilla Karnstein & Steve Rogers, Laura Hollis/Carmilla Karnstein, Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, minor Carmilla Karnstein/Natasha Romanoff
Series: MCarmillaU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1549099
Comments: 18
Kudos: 35





	1. The Story so Far...

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm doing a thing. A full crossover between Carmilla and the MCU. Something to occupy all this writing time I've found myself with. (Side note: Why is Nat's tag on AO3 the wrong spellng of her name?)
> 
> This fic was inspired by:  
"The Reckoning" by Obisidian3  
"The Avengers of the Ring" series on FF.net by Dr Manhattan
> 
> Both are great and I heartily recommend a read.
> 
> Laura's powers are based on those of Miguel O'Hara, the Spider-Man of 2099. Any basic search should give you a good idea if you want to do some research.
> 
> For formatting purposes, italicized text is thoughts, bolded text is flashbacks, and both are used when describing action within a video.

Carmilla clenched her teeth as she weathered Mother's "Welcome Home" speech, barely concealed hatred simmering underneath her skin. After spending time with people who actually cared about her, every word Lilita Morgan spoke felt hollow and wrong. She was no longer the little, lost vampire girl hanging on her every word, and she wanted nothing more than to tear her in half. It was too risky, though. Victims had already been taken by the time she'd arrived and there was no telling what her Mother's little cult would do to them if she made her move now. So, she'd bide her time, exercise the patience her best friend had helped her find, and finally stop her Mother from hurting anyone else.

**It's dark and cold, the blood sloshes with every little movement. It's maddening, but it's better than the quiet. At first, she tries to tear her way free, convinced that there must be some way to extricate herself from this waking nightmare her Mother had subjected her to. When the lid holds firm, she resorts to screaming herself hoarse. This is all within the first hour. Soon, time begins to lose all meaning, a day could be a month could be a decade. She tries starving herself, but the blood sustains her. She tries gorging herself, but just vomits the excess back into the pool around her. She's stuck in an endless, wet void of blood and darkness.**

**And then, she hears a noise, like the shrieks of the damned, so loud it echoes in her tomb.**

**And then, the world explodes. Even through the cursed lid of her coffin she can feel the heat, see glimpses of the light.**

**After an eternity of noise and panic, the darkness reasserts itself. She is back in her void. But wait. There, a chink, the dark isn't so dark. A lovely, deep shade of blue. Is that a twinkle of light? Real, true light. Strength renewed, she begins to scream and claw and tear at the lid with all of her might, barely able to find purchase.**

**And then, a voice. A man's, stong and deep. Reassuring her, telling her not to be scared, that he was coming. The lid is ripped away and she is looking into the night sky for the first time in what feels like millennia. The stars fill the sky and she's never seen anything more beautiful in her long life. The man is a strange one. Dressed in a way she's never seen and carrying a shield decorated with stars and stripes. His eyes are kind, compassionate, despite his understandable confusion. He holds out a hand,**

**"Hey, it's okay, you're okay. My name's Steve..."**

A thud snaps her out of the waking dream. One of her "brothers" laughs nervously, retrieving the book he dropped and cowering under the Dean's glare. She sighs. This is going to suck.

* * *

Laura is procrastinating. She knows it, Betty knows it. Hell, she's pretty sure her laptop knows it. It's not that she doesn't like Cochrane's class. Far from it, it's one of the reasons she's here at all.

**Fire. Screams.**

She shakes the memories away. It's hard to put words to the page, to do the thing she'd been avoiding for the better part of a year. In the end, it hadn't been what got her mother killed, but it had started them both down that road. Her incessant need to throw herself nose-first into anything that seemed worth investigating.

**She stopped herself from screaming, convinced that being caught would be worse than whatever was about to happen. The room was completely sealed off. No vents, no purchase on the walls, no windows. A panel had even slid into place over the door after she'd stumbled inside. She curled up in a corner, silently sobbing, wishing she was still with her mother in her office. Why did she always have to go snooping? This was hardly the first time it had gotten her in trouble, but it was defintely the first time she was afraid she might die. The assistant principal and a few of her classmates hardly compared to a monolithic, shadowy megacorporation like Alchemax, but here she was, nonetheless. Convinced in the righteousness of her cause and desperate to get her mother to stop helping them with whatever sinister thing they were no doubt having her unwittingly participate in.**

_ **Hiss** _

**Oh, there was gas seeping into the room now. Through a series of tiny vents lining the ceiling. It was denser than air, dark red in color. It flowed slowly down the walls, creeping towards her like some kind of gaseous predator. She curled into herself even harder, trying not to think about it and hoping that wishing enough would magically teleport her to her mother's office. She was only 17, she wasn't supposed to die like this! She had so much to do! Was she paraphrasing the Tenth Doctor as she died? Yeah, that was definitely a Laura Hollis way to go. The last thing she remembered was the gas flowing through the fingers she'd clenched across her nose and mouth, and then, nothing.**

"Laura!"

She shakes her head and looks down to see the crushed remains of her mouse clenched in a tight fist.

"You okay there, Hollis?"

"Yeah, bad memories." She dumped the mangled mass of plastic into the trash can and pulled another out of the drawer, glad she'd thought ahead. Two years later, and she still wasn't completely adjusted to super strength.

Betty gave the trash can a long look, "Must have been really bad."

"Yeah."

Silence.

"God, this is depressing."

With that pronouncement, Betty began to twirl around the room like a cyclone, vacuuming in clothes and throwing them at Laura to try on, proclaiming that they were going to a party tonight. Laura was a little taken aback at first, but it was hard to say no to the bubbly blond.

* * *

It was time. Time to put her undercover skills to the test, time to put this plan in motion. Find where the girls were being taken, stop Mother. It sounded simple, but this was Mother she was dealing with. Everything was bound to go wrong at some point, but she was determined to see this through.

**"Steve, what the hell do you think you're doing!"**

**"What needs to be done, Carm. I'm sorry."**

**"Goddammit, Soldier Boy..."**

**"I know, Carm. I know. Say...I've got a date planned next week. Think you you could help a guy out?"**

**"I don't know, I'm not a miracle worker."**

**His laugh was watery, and so was hers. Peggy was clinging to her, a look of unrestrained horror and sorrow on her face.**

**When the banter cut off a moment later, she hugged Peggy tight and sobbed quietly. In just a year, she had gained two truly good friends and then lost them both, but they had made her better. Helped her shake the last remnants of Mother's hold on her. She was free and it was because of Steve and Bucky.**

**She and Peggy met each other's eyes and each gave a firm nod. Steve Rogers may be gone, but they'd be damned if his sacrifice went to waste. HYDRA would pay.**

Shaking away the memories, she looked at the door to room 307 in front of her and slipped into the persona she'd been wearing around campus. More aloof than usual, bitterly sarcastic, kind of a bitch. 

* * *

Laura growled and just barely managed to restrain from snapping her phone in half. As it was, there were a few cracks along the outside edge just from her grip, but she could live with those. The administration was stonewalling her. No way in hell was this normal. Coeds do not just vanish into nowhere overnight. Granted, that would be low on both her own and Silas's scale of weirdness, but something about the whole thing just felt off. The note covered in sludge, the timescale, the brick wall that was Campus Security. She was honestly ready to go ask the Dean what the hell was going on in person, but knew that probably wouldn't go over well. Hmm, she could always find another way. She looked towards the recording software she had open, maybe it was time for Arachne to come out of retirement.

**She stood at the base of Alchemax's main headquarters, having leapt over the fence in a single jump, not even skimming the razor wire.**

**"Holy Hufflepuff, they really gave me freaking superpowers."**

**She followed the skyscraper up and up and up, unable to see the top from the ground. She gulped, was she really going to do this? Taking a deep breath, she remembered the terror she'd felt in that testing chamber and felt her resolve harden. Alchemax was shady as heck and she was going to prove it. Using the superpowers they gave her! Seriously, superpowers, what? She thought about Tony Stark, flying around the world in his armor, and Captain America, shield held high against the Nazis. _I can do this. I can do this!_**

**Slowly, she extended her hand and watched, still in a horrified kind of fascination, as inch-long talons unfolded from against her fingertips. She'd had a hard time coming to terms with a lot of this, but these had been the hardest adjustment. She'd torn her favorite pillow to shreds! Well, okay, it had also been really hard to not just break things or slam car doors hard enough to shatter windows. Thankfully, her Mom and Dad had both been really supportive. Her Mom had even been working on a way to hide the damn fangs. Her teachers were so mad about the mumbling, and she'd only been back at school for a few days.**

**She shook her head. _Focus!_**

**She dug her talons right into the stone of the building's structure, a little ways above her head, then brought her other hand up to join the first. Taking a deep breath, she hauled herself off the ground, suspended only by the claws in her fingertips and almost burst out in giddy laughter. Now that she had moved past some of the trauma, this was really freaking cool! Next were her feet, anchoring herself with the claws on her toes, which had also been a very weird thing to get used to. She'd paced a literal line in the kitchen.**

**Holy crap, she was hanging off a wall!**

**Slowly she bagan to crawl her way upward, getting faster and faster as she got used to the movements and got over the vertigo. She'd even gotten confident enough to run up a small stretch of the middle of the building before she'd tripped and barely managed to catch herself.**

**"Baby steps, Hollis, baby steps," she panted.**

"Hellllllooo, Cupcake. Earth to Cupcake," a joking voice and a waving hand brought her out of her reverie. She looked up to find an attractive young woman, with long, dark hair and a grin stretching her lips.

_Holy hell, she's hot!_ was, of course, the first thing she thought.

"Wait, who the heck are you?" was, blessedly, the first thing out of her mouth.

"I'm your new roommate, sweetheart."


	2. Rising

"So, she's just been staring at her laptop for two days straight?"

"Yep, hasn't said a word since she asked who I was. Hasn't introduced herself, either." Carmilla's tone betrayed nothing of the concern she held for the other girl, merely an aloof sort of curiosity.

Their floor don, one Lola Perry, on the other hand, wore her worry nakedly. In every part of her body. Hand wringing, lip biting, the whole nine yards.

"Laura, honey, are you okay?" she asked, approaching the short blonde, a motherly lilt to her voice.

Laura, to Carmilla's surprise, actually reacted. Then again, it's not like she hadn't moved at all. She was still going to class and taking care of herself, she just wasn't talking and spent all of her free time opening and closing the recording software on her PC. Still, it was more of a reaction than anything she'd managed, even while playing the part of the slovenly roommate from hell perfectly. Laura looked at Perry for a second, that strange, contemplative look she'd been wearing since Carmilla had walked in still on her face. For a moment, it looked like she was just going to stare at Perry until she answered whatever question she was grappling with, but then she sighed, "I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

The look on her face began to morph until it was a mask of sheer determination. With a fierce nod, she rose from the chair and started towards the door, "I just need to go talk to an old friend." With that odd pronouncement, she left the room in a hurry.

"Well, that was weird," Carmilla deadpanned.

"Maybe she and this 'old friend' of hers got in a fight. Maybe this is a good thing." Perry's smile was bright and Carmilla didn't need to be in character for it to be a little much.

"I've got a 'friend' coming over in a few minutes, could I maybe have the room back?" Perry looked confused for a second, but a waggle of her eyebrows and sultry smirk made her blush and dart out of the room. Carmilla snorted. _What a prude._

She listened for Perry's footsteps to fade before moving to lock the door and shut the window. Retreating to the bathroom, she closed the door and pulled out a small device, barely larger than her palm. She keyed in a few commands and stuck the disc to the bathroom door. It beeped for a few seconds, then flashed a green light. Good, no listening devices. She didn't think her mother was up to date in the tech department, but Carmilla hadn't survived all this time by being careless. Satisfied she was reasonably secure, she pulled out a small laptop. "Cat to Widow, come in Widow."

"Hey, Carm, how's it going at your Mom's?" the wry voice of one Natasha Romanoff preceded the redhead's appearance onscreen.

"Haha, Nat, very funny, it's not like she's a raging bitch or anything."

The readhead just smirked. That stupid, sexy smirk that made Carm sorely wish she was within pouncing distance.

* * *

Laura bolted across campus, warring with herself. _I need to find Betty, she's in trouble, I know it. Everything I've ever been through is telling me that there is so much more to this than her dropping out._ She stopped, looking back towards the dorm, where her new roommate was lounging. _Something's off about her and how quick she was assigned, too. Nothing about anything makes sense. How did I even lose Betty at the party? I didn't get drunk, and my vision is superpowered._ She shook her head and took off running again. _I can't get involved like this again, I'll just end up getting someone hurt. Or worse._

**The bridge rumbled, explosives pulverizing the concrete.**

_No, no, no, no, no...s_he pushed herself harder with every 'no', trying to outrun the memories.

**Screams. Laughter, mad and echoing. Her mother begging for her life.**

She kept running, faster and faster, until she was little more than a blur across the campus.

**Warm blood, flowing between her fingers.**

She just barely stopped herself before she plowed into, or more likely through, the old physics building at the edge of campus. It was a large, brick structure, long since abandoned. Cobwebs stretched between the Ionic columns along the front, and most of the glass from the windows was decorating the steps. She took a deep breath, trying to organize her jumbled thoughts. She felt it still, this burning desire to help, to make a difference, but she was just so scared. She hadn't felt this powerless since, ironically enough, right after she acquired her own.

**Laura didn't remember leaving Alchemax, just the feeling of waking up the next morning, recoiling in pain from the sunlight shining through her window. Her eyes felt like they were burning. She blindly reached out a hand to close the curtains only to hear a loud _rip_ as they came apart in her hands. She finally settled for hiding in her closet, but when she went to pull the door shut, the handle came away in her hand with a loud _crack_. She promptly dropped it to the floor in shock.**

**Staring down at her hands, she found two things: first, that she could see in the pitch dark of her closet like she was still in her room and, second, that there were claws sprouting from her fingertips. A strangled scream tore its way from her throat and she unthinkingly clenched her fists. Thankfully, the talons folded down as soon as they came close to grazing her skin.**

**Her Mom and Dad found her just a few minutes later, surprised she was awake, and understandably concerned by the broken door and ripped curtains.**

**"Laura, hey, you ok?" her Dad asked, his voice soft. He started towards her, face lined with concern. She numbly let him pull her into a hug, but didn't dare return it, for fear of accidentally hurting him.**

**"I don't know what's happening to me."**

**"Us either, sweetheart, but we'll figure it out," her Mom promised, wrapping her arms around them both.**

That's what Carmilla had called her two days ago. "Sweetheart." That nickname had been a favorite of her mother's, and the reminder had killed the resolve she'd built up to find Betty. Which just made her feel worse. She was spiralling, and had been for almost a year. Had been since they'd scattered her mother's ashes. Caught between terror and doing the right thing. It was why she hadn't watched the news since. She couldn't bear to look at the people who needed her help, at the people she was abandoning because she was afraid.

Afraid that the next corpse she cradled in her arms would be her father's.

He was all she had left, after all. 

Being a vigilante/guerilla journalist had ruined any semblance of a social life she'd had. She'd been dumped by two girlfriends and lost touch with most of the people she'd known at school. Heck, by the time she'd arrived at Silas, in a desperate bid to get the hell away from New York City, her father was the only contact left in her phone. Which was fine, he was the only one she ever talked to anymore.

She looked up at the building looming over her, remembering a similarly rundown warehouse that she'd turned into her own private lair.

Maybe it was time to try again, to answer the call once more.

**"I am Iron Man."**

**Laura gasped as the room onscreen erupted with all sorts of reactions.**

**Tony Stark was Iron Man.**

**Tony freaking Stark, ex-arms dealer extrordinaire, had nearly given up his life for people he didn't even know. Had taken personal responsibility for the atrocities committed with the aresenals his company had built. Had managed to take something that could be deadly in the wrong hands and bend it towards a noble purpose by actively using it for good. She looked down at her hands, at the claws folded against her skin. Maybe.**

**She ran upstairs as her parents watched the rest of the press conference. In her room, she stared at the Captain America and the Howling Commandos poster over her bed. She'd been reading and rereading their comics since she was a kid. She'd always wanted to be a hero. To make a difference. She'd thought it would be through her writing, through reporting on people like Tony Stark, but maybe he'd shown her a different way.**

Laura took a deep breath and, for the first time in a long time, let her talons extend. Thinking back to the start of it all, she dug the claws of one hand into the stone pillar before her, and then the other. She raised herself off the ground and felt a wave of nostalgia hit as she remembered the first time she'd done this, back when everything seemed so clear, so easy. Fight the bad guys with truth and fist and everything would turn out okay. 

Another deep breath and she kicked her shoes off, tearing through her socks to anchor herself the the column. She closed her eyes, slowing her breathing, preparing herself for the exertion.

One last deep breath. Her eyes flashed open on the exhale and she was off, scurrying up the front of the building like the spider that she was. Near the top, she stood and sprinted the last few feet, stopping just under the lip of the roof and springing outward into open air with a whoop of excitement. She'd missed this feeling of weightlessness. For a moment, everything fell away, leaving just her and the feeling of flight. The world slowed and time stood still. She could see the stars turning above her as she twisted backwards and felt a smile stretch across her face.

She relished the euphoria as long as she could, but, inevitably, gravity began to assert itself. So, she flung her hands toward the roof, tilted down at the wrists. With a stereo _thwip_, a thin strand of webbing sprung from each joint, adhering firmly. Twirling her hands in a practiced motion, she grabbed hold of both lines and yanked herself back toward the building, pushing off as she landed and letting the web carry her back up to arc around the the stone slab that formed the awning over the building's entrance. She landed on her feet, a megawatt grin firmly in place.

"It's been too long," she sighed, sitting on the ledge, feet dangling over the edge. She looked at the tops of her wrists, at the small slits that connected back to the spinnerets in her forearms. You'd never even see them if you didn't know they were there and she'd used their silk to stop everything from armed thugs to whole chunks of building. All this power she had, and she'd been sitting on it for so long. 

She thought back to Perry, to that almost parental care in her voice. Someone out there felt that way about Betty, worried she might be gone, afraid she would get hurt.

"No more," she promised.

* * *

"So, you were too late, then?"

"Yeah, she has at least a few. She mentioned two girls in her barf-worthy little speech that was very pointedly about loyalty and respect, and my new roomie's old roomie has pulled a vanishing act. I think the bitch wants the whole set, too, thus why I'm with her."

"A test then."

"Almost certainly, or she knows I'm working against her and wants me at arms' length."

"Also a possiblility. By the way, I hope you weren't too attached to Stark, because I'm going to kill him."

"Nat, no killing the godson."

"I'm not responsible for what I do the next time he propositions me."

"Ugh, I'll talk to him. I think he's still dealing with some shit, but Starks have never been ones for healthy coping mechanisms. Sorry."

"It's not your fault he's a colossal asshole."

"He's getting better."

Nat raised an eyebrow, "He used to be worse?"

"Please stop being unreasonably sexy when I can't reach you."

Eyebrow.

"Exactly. That. Stop doing that."

Smirk.

"Tease."

Nat waved, terminating the connection. Carmilla stared at the screen. _I swear she's trying to sexually frustrate me back into a grave._

Fun part over, she pulled up another secure line to talk to her boss.

"Ah, Agent Karnstein, I was wondering when you were going to bother checking in."

"Oh, lay off, Fury, I have seniority."

"Yes, but I'm still in charge."

"I will tell Nat how you lost your eye."

Fury's stony glare would have incinerated a lesser person.

"There, banter over, we can move on. I'm in place and, as far as I know, my Mother suspects nothing. I'm going to wait a few more days before I start poking around, though, let her hackles go down."

"It's your op, Karnstein, just say the word and I'll get a team to you as fast as possible."

"Thanks, Fury, I appreciate your support on this."

"Your Mother is a monster in the truest sense of the word. I'm doing the world a favor by giving you the resources you need to take her out."

"I'll have more for you soon, Karnstein out."

Fury held up a hand, "Karnstein. Carmilla. I-"

He cut himself off, looking as unsure as she'd ever seen him. Not even when Carol was literally punching holes in spaceships had he looked this lost.

"What is it?"

"Nothing, Fury out."

She frowned at the blank screen, that was...uncharacteristic. Nick Fury was not a man who was ever uncertain. He had his goals and he pursued them with a singular, intense focus. Whatever was bothering him, she was certain she wasn't going to like it, "Fuck."

* * *

The next morning the population of the university was greeted by a video posted on the campus aethernet.

_ **Fade up. In the center of the screen is a symbol. A stylized golden spider on a black background. The voice that follows is heavily distorted, but its message is clear.**_

"Students and staff of Silas University, it's nice to meet you, my name is Arachne..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys really didn't think I could resist the Nat/Nat thing, did you? Rest assured, this is just a fling, Hollstein will always be the endgame. Well, not Endgame just yet, but hey, one day.


	3. Connecting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't intend to write almost an entire chapter of Laura and Carm just talking, but here we are, and I'm very not mad at myself.

"What the fuck?" Carmilla swore as she was hoisted into the air. "Oh, are we hugging now?"

Laura nodded vigorously, still holding Carmilla a good few inches off the floor with a big, toothy smile on her face. "Yep, making up for being a brick the past couple days. Sorry, I was going through some stuff, big decisions and all that. Anyways, I'm Laura Hollis, it's awesome to meet you!"

Carmilla stared down into a face that was like warm sunshine and whatever resistance she should have been faking melted instantly. "Carmilla, it's nice to properly meet you, too, cutie."

Laura's ears turned red and she set Carmilla down as fast as she could. Carmilla just smirked, and threw in a wink when the other girl finally mustered the will to look back at her. _Wonder how far down that blush goes? I was just messing with her, but, dammit, she is cute._

"Soooooooo, Carmilla, what are you studying?" Laura asked, doing her level best to forge ahead. _Small talk, baby steps, you can do this, Hollis. You haven't so much as talked to a girl since before you graduated, but you're doing fine._

"Philosophy. I'm the dark and broody type, can't you tell?" Carmilla deadpanned.

The noises Laura made in response could generously be called words. Because Laura made a Bad Mistake. A Big, Bad, Awful Mistake. The question had made her actually look at what Carmilla was wearing. And what she was wearing was a pair of leather pants that it looked like she'd been sewn into. And, now, her brain was misfiring.

"You okay over there?" Carmilla asked, crossing the room to stow her stuff on the bed. The bed that was made. The bed that used to be surrounded by Betty Spieldsdorf's things. Which were all now, presumably, in the cardboard boxes at the end of the bed with Betty's name on them. _Creampuff's been busy._

The course of Carmilla's path across the room had, unfortunately for Laura's mental faculties, resulted in Carmilla turning away from her. Laura was now very much not okay, in the best way possible.

"Helllloooo, Earth to Hollis, this is Houston, you appear to be floating into deep space again."

"Wha?"

"See something you like there, cutie?" she husked, throwing Laura a sultry look over her shoulder.

Laura did the only sensible thing she could think of in that moment. She bolted for the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

Carmilla followed her progress with a wicked grin, chuckling to herself. _Wish I'd recorded that, might've actually gotten Nat to laugh. Clint would have died._

It took Laura ten minutes to recover and emerge back into the room. To her credit, she wasn't blushing anymore and hadn't shrunken in on herself, but she still wouldn't meet Carmilla's eyes. Sighing, Carmilla walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, sorry if I pushed that too far. I was just messing with you."

Laura finally looked up and saw a genuine, warm smile on Carmilla's face, which she returned. "No, it's fine, really. I, um, it's just been a while, I'm not really used to it anymore. My last girlfriend was like that, with the flirty comments and the bedroom eyes, but that was over a year ago. You caught me off guard."

"Well, that's the best kinda flirting, isn't it?"

"I, uh, yeah."

"Look, it's just kinda part of the deal with me. I can try and tone it down if you'd like."

"No, it's fine, it's fine." Laura took a deep breath, opened her mouth to continue, then took another for good measure, "I'll be fine, really. Thanks for the offer, though. It's nice."

Carmilla scoffed, "Well, there's an adjective that's never been used in my vicinity before."

"Well, now it has. You're being nice, so there," Laura retorted, sticking her tongue out.

"That an offer, Cupcake?"

Laura sputtered, "And now we've circled back around to mean."

Laura pouted at her and Carmilla glared back...for about five seconds, and then Laura broke down in giggles while Carmilla just smiled at her. "You're alright, Hollis."

"Hey, no fair with the last name, you didn't tell me yours."

"Too bad for you. Now, any particular reason you decided to stow all your old roommate's things? Weren't you all gung-ho and determined to find her?"

"How do you know that?"

"I'm pretty sure everyone on this floor heard you raging at Campus Security a couple of days ago."

Laura just nodded, "Yeah, I was getting really annoyed by that point."

Carmilla raised an eyebrow, "If that was 'annoyed,' remind me never to really piss you off."

"Don't try and tell me I'm overreacting when I know something's not right and we'll be fine. They seriously expected me to buy that Betty just decided to go to a party, drop out, and then move out without any of her stuff over the course of about six hours? Here," she stuck out her leg, "pull the other one."

Not being able to resist, Carmilla reached over and did just that, making Laura tip back onto her bed. The fallen blonde glared at her, but there was no real heat in the expression.

"Alright, I suppose I should have expected that."

"You really should have."

"Anyway, as I was saying, I wasn't born yesterday, I know something's wrong with this whole situation, so I got help. That was what was bothering me so much. I was a little...conflicted on whether or not I should reach out to this particular contact of mine. She's had it rough recently."

"Wait, are you telling me that little stunt on the campus aethernet was your doing?"

Laura looked at her for a second, as if sizing her up, "Can I trust you, Carmilla?"

Carmilla wasn't sure what to say. Her very presence here at Silas was a lie predicated on more lies, but they were bonding and having fun. Besides, it wasn't like she was going to say anything to Mother. She finally settled on, "Maybe. You might need to get to know me a little better first."

Laura held her gaze, eyes losing some of that fun playfulness they'd been dancing with earlier. Her stare was more calculating now, "We all have our secrets. Some more than most."

Carmilla had the distinct feeling that Laura was hinting at something as monumental as what she herself was hiding, and it was an oddly comforting feeling. She and Laura were both guarding their true selves, yes, but they were sharing the rest freely, "Indeed."

"Arachne's the old friend I was talking about last night. We don't have a direct line, so I had been thinking about dropping her a video message asking for help. Thus, the recording suite."

"Oh. Okay, so that little video message for the campus wasn't a prank at all, it was actually her."

Laura bit her lip, unsure of how to progress. Some version of the truth, she thought, "It was me, actually. Using her logo and voice effects. She sent them to me."

"So, you're what? Going to impersonate a retired superhero to try and intimidate the university into investigating."

"That's the plan for now."

"How in the world did you manage to become old friends with a costumed vigilante?"

"Heh, long story. I'll give you the basics. We ended up investigating the same crime boss. I almost ended up getting myself killed, and she saved my butt. Of course, I also blew her cover, so she was pretty mad."

Carmilla snorted, "Yeah, you don't exactly strike me as a particularly stealthy cupcake."

Laura blushed, she wasn't that far off.

**_Okay, Hollis, you can do this, you're a big, badass superhero now._ Laura repeated in her head, trying to psych herself up for what was probably the riskiest thing she'd ever done. Even breaking into Alchemax wasn't as risky as trying to take on Wilson Fisk.**

**Down below her perch in the warehouse's scaffolding, armed thugs stood guard as yet more thugs took inventory on a shipment of guns. She could easily tell them if they'd asked, the number was approximately "a ridiculous number of freaking guns." Seriously, there was enough firepower in this warehouse to stage a coup. She was pretty sure a team of Fisk's men were calibrating a few automated turrets in the corner. _Where the frack did these people even get ahold of stuff like this? They knock over a dumpsite for old Stark Industries' weapons projects? Wait, that's probably exactly what they did. Crap._**

**She crept along the beam, trying to get a better angle and see if Fisk had finally slipped up, left his mark on anything. This was strictly an observe and report kind of mission. She'd promised her Dad she'd stay as far off Fisk's radar as she could. She smiled under her mask. Even knowing she could bench press a car, her Dad was overprotective. Guess that was just a Dad thing. **

**Shaking away the thoughts, she pulled her focus back to the matter at hand. Her enhanced eyesight allowed her to see damn near everything in the warehouse, and not a thing in here could be tied back to the Kingpin. Ugh, for someone so big, he sure was slippery. Not a logo, not a signet, not a signature anywhere. Damn, he was good. **

**Wait, that guy looked important. Armor, not doing any manual labor, not on sentry duty, on the phone. She crawled to a point directly over his head. Except she couldn't hear a thing he was saying from up here, crap. She anchored a webline at her feet and slowly began to lower herself along the wall he was leaning against, hoping the black of her suit blended in enough that no one would see her immediately. Granted, there was a large, gold spider across her front, but that was why she was facing the wall.**

**"Yeah, boss, the turrets are looking like good product. Their targeting systems don't actually work, but they put holes in things, so I figure it evens out. Yeah, the remotes work fine."**

**Laura looked over at the turrets, her vision zooming in on the operators. Sure enough, they were behind what looked like sets of briefcase controls, with screens and joysticks and everything. _Well, that's definitely a problem._**

**"Sure, boss, we'll be out of here in a couple of hours, just have to make sure everything was delivered."**

**Alright, all she needed to do was snag this guy's phone after he hung up and-**

**"Hedwig's Theme" echoed across the warehouse.**

**Laura's eyes widened. Had she really?**

**Yep, that was her cell. She locked eyes with the lead goon below her and slowly pulled the phone out of its pouch on her belt. The caller ID said it was her ex. As if the break up hadn't been bad enough.**

**"Sorry, boss, gotta go, we have seem to have spider infestation." The leader hung up and drew back his arm to fling the phone at the ground.**

**_No, you don't_. She just barely hit the phone with a web and snatched it out of the air after a good yank. _Yes!_ That was when what sounded like a hundred weapon safeties being released filled the space. _Right. Fuck._ Time slowed as her adrenaline kicked in and shots began to ring in the night.**

**She released the web and dropped on the lead thug hard, snapping her foot across his jaw. He went down with a cry and she was immediately back in the air, twisting around bullets and using globs of webbing to incapacitate anyone she could. She knew she should run, but she at least had to take out those heavy guns. She anchored herself to the ground with a pair of weblines on either side of an operator and pulled as hard as she could, barreling into the man hard enough that he flew ten feet into the wall. She turned towards the briefcase controls next and raked her talons across the panel, tearing it to shreds. A shot pinged off the metal table next to her and she rolled to the side, coming up to the next station and popping into an uppercut to its operator's jaw. She gave this case the same treatment before hoisting it into the air and using the hardcase as a projectile to take out another few men.**

**Pain. White hot, lancing through her shoulder. She cried out and fell to her knees, pulling the table over for cover. Blood ran down her front. She grit her teeth and bent her shoulder forwards to bandage the wound with a quick bit of webwork. Shots pinged off the table. _Oh, I'm really in the shit now._ **

**She took a second to slow her breathing. That was when a grenade landed at her feet. She stared at the sphere for a long second, then kicked it towards the turrets. "Thanks!" she called out, watching in satisfaction as both were rendered useless by the blast. Their response was three more grenades landing next to her. _Crap._ She cast a webline forwards and jumped, yanking hard and sending herself flying forward. She only barely managed to clear the blast zone, the sounds of shearing metal echoing painfully from behind as the table was blown apart.**

**She zigzagged across the warehouse, feeling bullets skate past. Finally, she managed to make it back to a wall that lead outside and, wasting no time, used her talons to tear her way through it. The sight of the open sky had never looked so good.**

**Pain. Again, this time through her lower leg. She crumpled to the side and screamed. _Fuck. Fuck, shit, godammit, that fucking hurts!_ Her breath was coming quicker and quicker, blood running from the hole in her calf. She webbed it shut and pulled herself up to stand on her good leg. _No time to sit here and be hurt, gotta get home. Gotta get home._ She a pinned a couple of the tall fence posts around the lot with weblines and used her good leg to give herself enough momentum to clear the fence. The sides of her vision began to darken. _No, no, hell no, stay awake!_**

"You okay, there, Cupcake?"

Laura nodded, lowering the hand that had been unconsciously rubbing the spot that first shot had hit. There was no scar, the wound had healed cleanly and way faster than it should have. "Yeah, sorry, spaced out. Where was I?"

"Meeting the woman who helped take down Alchemax, I believe."

"Oh, yeah. Anyway, I bungled that mission of hers and she bailed me out. From then on, she was a little worried I'd get myself hurt, so she asked me to just pass on any good tips I got a hold of." It hadn't been Arachne that was worried, her parents had nearly fainted when she'd managed to hobble into the house, barely conscious and covered in blood. At least she'd remembered to change into her street clothes, even if the phone had been a dead end, wiped remotely. "Also, I helped with that Alchemax article, I'll have you know."

Carmilla just raised an eyebrow.

Laura thought about their earlier banter in order to blush, it wasn't hard, "Well, alright, I just proofread it."

"Still, you got to read it first, that must have been a hell of a thing."

Laura looked down, "It was. Finally made my Mom realize what scumbags the people she was working for were, too."

"Your mother worked for Alchemax?"

"Yeah, she was a biologist."

Carmilla gave her a look. Maybe it was her tone, or something in her eyes, but it was obvious she knew. She squeezed her shoulder and gave her a sad sort of smile, "Sorry, Laura."

"Thanks," she could feel tears welling up. "Hey, I'm going to go hit the library. See you tonight?"

Carmilla knew an excuse when she heard one but nodded, "Yeah, see you tonight, Creampuff."

Laura snort-cry-laughed and then took a second to contemplate how strange the sound was before she awkwardly waved and exited the room.

Carmilla looked after her for a solid minute, thinking about this whole roller-coaster of a conversation they'd had. Laura was easy to talk to, and very entertaining to mess with. _Hmm, maybe this won't be so bad._ She'd get to hang out with someone halfway decent while also protecting her from the Dean. Her smile fell for a second as she pictured teenaged Laura Hollis running head first into danger, trying to test her mettle as a reporter against a criminal that caught the eye of someone like Arachne. She'd have to keep a close eye on her, make sure she didn't get into too much trouble looking for Betty. She pulled up the video on her phone again, tracing the lines of the golden spider while "Arachne" laid out the facts of Betty's disappearance and the administration's efforts to quash it. Laura Hollis was playing with fire. Hopefully, Carmilla could keep her from getting burned.

"Miss Karnstein, you have a call coming through from Miss Potts."

"What the hell? Jarvis? Where the hell are you talking to me from?"

"The phone Mr. Stark gave you, I was instructed to let you know personally if you received a call from either Mr. Stark or Miss Potts."

Carmilla pulled out the thoroughly modern looking phone Tony had given her last time she'd seen him. It looked almost like it was made from a piece of his armor. She flipped it open and almost dropped it as a miniature hologram of Pepper Potts appeared .

"Carmilla, I need you to talk to Tony."

As she was working out how to respond, a _ping _came from the SHIELD communicator disguised as her normal phone. A message from Natasha.

"Something wrong with Stark, might need you soon."

_What the fuck?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah, next time we hit our first MCU movie. The timeline isn't like exactly 1:1, but, you know, superpowered lesbians and armored Avengers. So, maybe it's okay if I fudge a little. 
> 
> Basically, I'd forgotten that "six months later" thing until I was rewatching Iron Man 2. So, now I'm just expanding the time between Iron Man and Iron Man 2 by a year and a half or so because it works better for me than replotting the story. I'll definitely try and keep a sharper eye on timeline stuff from here on out, though


	4. Confrontation

By the time Laura had collected herself and returned to the room, Carmilla was nowhere to be found. There was a just a note on her bed that read: "Family emergency, be back when I can, cutie." There was a winking smiley face drawn next to the last word. She blushed and wondered what had called her roommate away so suddenly. She hoped, for Carmilla's sake, that it wasn't anything too serious, she wouldn't wish that kind of pain on anyone.

Laura was so engrossed in Carmilla's short note that when the cacophonous, blaring alarm rang out across campus, she fell back on instinct and leapt straight up, digging her talons into the ceiling and bracing herself with her feet. When a few seconds went by and nothing exploded or burst into flames, she breathed a sigh of relief, _Wonder what that's all about?_

_Knock knock knock_

"Laura, I know you're new so you might not understand what that means," Perry called through the door. The knob began to turn and a spike of panic stabbed into Laura's heart. 

Thinking quickly, she webbed the door shut with a quick flick of the wrist and called out, "Just a minute, changing!"

"Oh, sorry, just finish up and we'll report to the administration building, that alarm means we're having a campus-wide meeting with the Dean."

_Wonderful, I can guess what this is about._ "Alright, I'll be there in a bit, just got out of the shower."

"I'll wait, I'm responsible for making sure everyone on my floor makes it to the meeting."

Laura quietly made her way over her bed and dropped into it, listening to make sure Perry hadn't heard the noise. When she made no comment, Laura walked over to the door and ran a talon along the seam, cutting through the webbing sealing it shut. She'd clean it up when she got back and hope it didn't strip the paint off the door. Last thing she needed was a charge for damages to the room.

* * *

**Blood Toxcicity: 84%**

Tony quietly tucked the small receiver connected to the sensors in the arc reactor back into the inner pocket of his jacket, grimacing at the mirror in front of him. _Some of the research we took custody of from Alchemax helped, but this is really happening. It's fine, the company's in good hands._ He unbuttoned the top of his shirt and moved it slowly to the side, revealing the sick, black vessels emanating from the very thing that had once saved his life. _The irony would be hilarious if it wasn't so tragic._ Still, he fixed his shirt and splashed some water on his face, _Channel the comedy and maybe no one will notice._ He took a deep breath and plastered on his trademark grin, turning to swagger out of the bathroom.

What he was expecting out in the dining room was bored millionaires, his new assistant, and Pep. What he was not expecting was the woman standing next to her, face all sharp angles and hair black as midnight. _Carm? What is she doing here?_ He immediately turned and raced back into the bathroom. What the actual fuck was his godmother doing here? He hadn't seen her in over a year, not since...

**"How is she?" Pepper asked from behind him.**

**He blinked, not having heard her approach, "The same, hasn't moved or woken since they brought her in."**

**The subject of Pepper's question lay in the hospital bed Tony was keeping quiet vigil beside. In it was the still form of Carmilla Karnstein, the one constant in Tony's life besides Jarvis, and the person he felt he'd failed the most in this little escapade with the Iron Man armor. He had gotten to Stark Industries as fast as he could, but it hadn't been fast enough. Carm had managed to buy Pepper and a few of the SHIELD agents time to escape, but Stane's Iron Monger had been stronger than she'd anticipated, or so he guessed. He'd only arrived in time to see his godmother in the grip of the metal monstronsity, screaming as Stane did his level best to crush her into paste. A repulsor blast to the face and decades of Stark resentment had saved her life, but she was in bad shape.**

**Pepper laid her hands on his shoulders, "Tony, she'll make it, she's the strongest woman I've ever met."**

**"Had to be, to keep up with me all these years."**

**The snark was reflexive, another form of armor.**

**"I never have gotten the story on that."**

**Tony shrugged, "Neither have I, but she's always been around. Always had my back. Guess I took that for granted, thought she was invincible."**

**Tony was silent, and Pepper could feel his shoulders tense.**

**"This wasn't your fault, Tony. If you're going to blame anyone, blame Stane."**

**"I can blame us both, I have plenty to go around."**

**He finally looked up at Pepper, and it was easy to tell he had been fighting tears all night. She leaned forward and pulled him into her arms, "It's okay, Tony."**

**He let out a choked sob, but swallowed it as soon as it burst forth, leaning back into her.**

**"Well, don't you two look cozy."**

**"Feel cozy, too," Tony shot back instantly. Carm's eyes were open and she looked like hell, but there was a smirk on her face to match Tony's. Pepper just held onto Tony and let the two banter their way through their emotions.**

**And, if Tony let his hand find Carm's and grip it for dear life just to feel it squeeze back, none of them felt the need to comment on it.**

Most of the bones in Carm's torso had been shattered, and that, along with the accompanying tissue damage, had nearly killed her. He'd never gotten a straight answer out of SHIELD on how they'd managed the medical miracle, but was too relieved she wasn't dead to care. After all, it had been clear early on in his teenage years that she wasn't quite human, looking like she did and reminscing with his father on things that had happened decades ago. She'd never explained further and he'd never asked.

It was the default mode of their relationship, really.

They loved each other but didn't talk much.

Later, they'd had a fight about the armor and the reveal of who was wearing it and she had disappeared shortly after, saying that she had unfinished business to settle.

Now, she was out in the dining room, talking to Pepper. 

Pepper. 

He was an idiot. 

Appointing her CEO so suddenly was always going to clue her in that something was going on, but he hadn't thought she'd call his godmother. It wasn't his fault that Carm had secluded herself who knows where and hadn't spoken to anyone in over a year.

_Fuck. She's not going to leave without some kind of answer._

* * *

"It has come to the attention of myself and the other administrators here at Silas that there is someone on campus spreading alarmist rumors and attempting to fabricate some kind of narrative where we are complicit in a kidnapping," the Dean's tones were clipped, matter of fact. She spoke like a woman who was never wrong, regardless of circumstances. She was also just over six feet of olive toned Amazonian perfection wrapped in a power suit, so Laura was reconsidering just punching her in the face. "This will not be tolerated. Whoever has decided to masquerade as this so-called 'superhero' and besmirch the good name of this school will be found and punished severely."

Laura glowered at her, muttering 'so-called' under her breath in an angry tone. The woman's holier-than-thou tone was seriously grating on her nerves. Regardless, she took a deep breath in and counted to ten, hoping to calm down. She was going to need a clear head, bad things happened when she lost control.

**Blood flowing through her fingers.**

**Vibrant red spattered across a golden spider.**

"Hey, Hollis? You doing alright there?" a familiar voice whispered from her side. She looked over and up into the concerned face of Danny Lawrence, her Lit TA.

"Yeah, just already done with this spectale/lecture."

Danny said something else, but Laura was focused on her breathing, trying her best to tune out the Dean and stay calm.

"Futhermore, if whoever decided this would be a good idea had simply waited another day, they could have avoided trouble and been comforted by the knowledge that the administration is working to determine the fates of both the girls who have gone missing. The notes delivered to their roommates were simply a measure to ensure panic would not ensue in the meantime. Campus security was otherwise occupied investigating the matter. This person, whoever they may be, is simply impatient and immature, wanting every problem to be solved immediately. It will take time, but I personally assure all of you that this is being taken seriously and that we will find out what happened. Until then, we have decided to enact a few precautionary rules."

A collective groan arose from the crowd at that pronouncement, and Laura reluctantly tuned back in, wondering what had made everyone react.

"Starting tonight, campus security will be making regular patrols of the grounds. There will a be a sort of 'soft' curfew of eleven o' clock PM, after which no student is to roam the campus alone. Past one o' clock AM, any student found out of their dorm will be escorted back or, if found suspicious, to the security office. Gatherings are still allowed, but must have at least one member of faculty present. In addition, you must notify security ahead of time. We believe these simple steps will allow everyone to feel safer until the truth is uncovered, thank you."

With that pronoucement, the Dean spun and made her way back into the administration building, leaving behind the entire student population of Silas University to sort out where this left them.

Laura felt glares on her back and turned to see a couple of girls from her floor staring daggers at her. Before they could open their mouths and tell literally the whole student body she was the reason the Dean murdered fun, she ducked down and began to twist and weave her way through the crowd. Sometimes being short had its advantages. Combine her diminutive stature with her superhuman flexibility and she was a ghost. Thankfully, there were no more of her dormmates on the outskirts of the crowd to start the witch hunt.

She was halfway back to her dorm when Danny caught up to her, covered head to toe in...food, she thought, "Hey, you good? You booked it out of there pretty quick."

Laura nodded, choosing not to comment on the state of her companion, "Yeah, just not looking forward to my neighbors telling everyone that I'm the reason they can't all get drunk without the professors watching anymore."

"You posted that video?"

"No, but I was yelling at campus security for a solid hour two days ago after my roomate pulled a Houdini."

There was a long pause as Danny wiped frosting off her face, "So, it's not just Elsie, then?"

Laura's head whipped around so fast Danny was worried she'd broken her neck.

"Explain."

* * *

"Carm, to what do we owe the surprise!" Tony called out jovially, smirk firmly in place as he approached her and Pepper.

Carmilla studied her godson with a critical eye. His grin was fake, there was slight sheen of sweat on his forehead, and there were bags underneath his eyes. Paired with his sudden decision to appoint Pepper as the head of SI, it was obvious that something was wrong. _Not that he'd ever tell anyone._ Growing up around her and Howard had never reenforced that talking through things was a healthy way to deal with one's problems, despite Maria's best efforts to the contrary.

She leveled him with a glare, "You know why I'm here, Anthony Edward Stark."

Tony winced, "Haven't the foggiest, but, hey, good to see you! Enjoy the race, we'll chat later."

"Don't you dare walk away from me."

"Too late," he called, booking it out of the dining room, leaving Carmilla standing between a confused Pepper Potts and a newly arrived Nat.

"I cannot believe he just walked off like that."

"Oh, I can. He's a Stark, Pep." Carmilla and Natasha shared a look, the latter unable to break character but her eyes telling Carmilla exactly what she thought of Tony's behavior. "I think surprising him was probably a bad call, I'll give him a few minutes to stew, then go to talk to him."

"Alright. Thank you for doing this. Tony's always trusted you, so I thought maybe he'd listen to you."

Carmilla snorted, "Tony's never listened to anyone, why would he start now?"

* * *

When Laura tried to open the door, it stuck and she cursed as she remembered webbing the door shut against Perry. _How in the hell am I going to explain this?_

"Roommate lock you out?" Danny asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nah, door just gets stuck sometimes, I'll have to let Perry know." She discreetly worked a talon through and cut the webbing that must have rebonded when the door shut. "There we go," she said, stepping through and shutting the door quickly behind her. "Bathroom's that way, feel free to use the shower, not like you could clog it harder than Carmilla already has."

"Ooh, sounds like a charmer. You good, Hollis?" Danny asked, eyebrow raising again as she observed Laura leaning against the door, not looking like she'd move anytime soon.

"Yeah, just thinking, you go ahead."

"Right, I did just add to the mystery. We'll work through it just as soon as I don't have cake frosting in my eyes."

Laura laughed and waved her toward the bathroom. 

As soon as Danny's back was turned, Laura spun and ripped the webbing away from the door.

"Aw, crap," she groused as she saw the large patch of the paint missing from across the door and frame. Even some of the polish had been stripped from the knob. That was the same kind of consistency she'd use to make sure multi-ton debris wouldn't hit the ground. _Man, that was overkill. What the hell am I going to do with this? My usual web doesn't have the same staying power as a normal spider's but this stuff will last a freaking week._ She heard the shower come on and breathed a sigh of relief, at least she a had a bit to think. About more than just a stupid ball of spider silk, too.

Two girls missing.

She collapsed into her desk chair and stared at the ceiling. Her powerful eyesight let her see the small slits present there from her escapade earlier with Perry. She coated the ball of webbing in a thin layer of less sticky silk and began to toss it as she mulled the situation over.

_Toss, Catch_

One of the Summers had disappeared from a party, just like Betty. Two occurences was hardly a pattern, but other things were making her think it was. 

_Toss, Catch_

The administration had a playbook, a standard way of handling the missing students.

_Toss, Catch_

The Dean was most certainly complicit if not directly culpable. Of that she was sure. Call it a hunch, call it being confronted by supervillains for over a year. Either way, she was certain.

_Toss, Catch_

None of the students seemed aware, or didn't care.

_Toss, Catch_

Security was definitely in on it. Maybe the professors, too.

_Toss, Catch_

Best of all, the Dean had just turned this whole mess around on her, ensuring virtually no support if she tried to rally her peers.

_Toss, Stick_

_Crap._ She'd put a little too much moxie on that last one, the Dean undercutting her was obviously affectng her more than she'd care to admit. Even to herself. She flicked her wrist and snagged the errant ball of webbing, yanking it back into her hand and wrapping the strand around it. She idly started tossing it between her hands and spinning in the chair. As her vision wandered past her roommate's bed, she wondered what part Carmilla played in all this, if any. True, she could have just had the bad luck of being put in the room right after Betty "left," but Laura wasn't so sure.

_Squeak_

She tossed the web ball under her bed and took a deep breath. _Time to figure this out, and, hey, not everyone hates me, so that's a plus._

* * *

"Carmilla, darling, what on Earth are you doing here?"

Carmilla turned towards the last voice she expected to hear. Standing at the bar, looking more interested in the bartender than any of the drinks the woman was serving, was Matska Belmonde. She was dressed in her ususal luxurious style and, as ever, carried herself with the grace of a queen. 

"Mattie? I could ask you the same question."

Despite her diffrences with Mother and the horrible things Mattie had done, she still felt a burst of affection for the older vampire. One that was nonetheless tempered with suspicion. She had left Silas in a hurry, and Mother still didn't quite trust her. Mattie may genuinely hold her in some regard, but she was still one of Mother's favorites, if not the most loyal.

"My dear, I'm simply here for the luxury and the people it attracts, like always."

"Yeah, that seems like you. How have you been?"

"Fabulous, Carmilla, simply fabulous, but when has that ever not been true?" The question was rhetorical, the toothy grin that accompanied it predatory. "The adrenaline in the drivers after a race makes for some very exotic cuisine, as well. You should join me for dinner."

"Sorry, Mattie, I'm not here for pleasure. I've got an idiot to knock some sense into and then I'm heading back to Silas."

Mattie seemed genuinely surprised at the latter remark, "You've come back to the fold then?"

"No one escapes Mother forever."

"Too true, too true. Well, it shall be fantastic to have you around again. We simply must celebrate when you've tied up whatever loose end you're taking care of. I assume Mother sent you."

"Not exact-what the fuck?" Carmilla moved past Mattie and towards the large TV in the corner. The large TV that was showing Tony Stark in a driver's suit and climbing into his company's car. She cast her eyes upward and threw her hands up, whispering angrily, "I know I promised to take care of him Howard, but I'm going to kill him first!"

"Well, well this is an interesting development. Perhaps I should pay him a visit after the ra-" Mattie was cut off by a growl from Carmilla, whose hand now held her pendant in an iron grip. Mattie could only blink, she hadn't even seen the other vampire move.

"You will not."

"Now, now, let's not do anything hasty, I was simply joking. I know he's far too high profile a target."

Carmilla only growled deeper, her eyes flashing the yellow of her panther form as she began to sqeeze, "No. You will not harm a hair on his head because if you do...I. Will. Kill. You." She punctuated every word with a tightening of her grip.

"Well, where is this protectiveness coming from, I wonder? How long has it been since mother buried you? Over a century, at least. Just how did you escape, I wonder, and what have you been up to?" Mattie seemed unconcerned, but Carmilla could see her stiffer than usual posture and the way her eyes kept flickering towards Carmilla's hand.

"It's a long story that I really don't have time to get into."

Mattie brought a hand up and rested it over the one that held her life in its grip. Her touch was delicate and her expression open, "I promise you, I will not harm your precious Stark, Carmilla."

Carmilla slowly released her grip and nodded. She could hear the sincerity in Mattie's words. Some part of her wanted her sister back in her life, too. Even if she was a monster, she was a monster that Carmilla shared a mutual affection with. Maybe she could even wean Mattie off the murder diet. Or maybe Tony would settle down, open a wood shop and swear off technology. Both were equally likely.

Screams came from the TV in front of them and they looked up to see footage of a solitary figure walking along the track, unconcerned as the drivers raced toward him.

It was was the walk of someone with an all-consuming purpose.

She couldn't help but think of Tony's last minute decision to take his turn behind the wheel.

"I have to go," she muttered distractedly, taking off towards the track.

Mattie stared after her. _Just what are you mixed up in, dear?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Whiplash vs. Iron Man and The Black Cat


	5. Whiplash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay, peeps, this chap fought me for a week, but I'm reasonably satisfied with the final product.
> 
> Also, fair warning for LaF being misgendered, this is still early in Season 1, so Perry is adjusting and, correct me if I'm wrong, but Danny met LaF through knowing Laura, so she wouldn't know any better initially.

"Ugh, all we're getting is headaches."

Danny looked over her shoulder at the tiny, frustrated blonde poring over their work on the dry erase board. Laura let out a sigh and flopped back on her bed, trying to untangle the knot of relationships and affiliations they'd managed to compile over the course of the past hour or so. It hadn't been hard, both Elsie and Betty had been pretty active on the campus' social media site looking for parties and any other excuse to not be doing homework. Unfortunately for Danny and Laura's investigation, however, they'd somehow managed to never cross paths at a school as small as Silas. A few acquantainces were all they really had in common besides the whole "party girl" schtick.

"Don't give up on me, yet, Hollis. There has to be something."

"There's just too little to go on. Trying to figure out a pattern in two cases is just about impossible."

Danny raised an eyebrow, "Guess someone's been paying attention in that journalism class."

Laura shrugged, "I have some experience with these kinds of things. Thought myself quite the amateur crime reporter back in high school."

"_Were_ you any good?" Danny asked with a taunting smile on her face.

"Good enough to nearly get myself gunned down by the Kingpin of Crime's thugs. Luckily, a certain spider just so happened to be tracking the same prey," the lie came easier this time, already formed and ready to go. She didn't question the urge to talk about it so freely.

Danny looked more than a little concerned, "That's a pretty casual way to talk about something like that."

"Yeah, well, I'm not dead, so it worked out, right? Besides, my guardian angel didn't let me get into anything like that ever again. I mostly just did research for her."

"Well, at least you had someone watching your back. What exactly were you thinking, anyway, going after criminals in high school? There wasn't anything, you know, safer to report on?"

Laura shot Danny a sour look and didn't reply.

"I didn't mean for it to come out that way. I just meant...I don't even know, I'm sorry, I'm sure you're more than capable of taking care of yourself."

Laura pinned her with a glare and made a gesture for Danny to come at her.

"What? No."

"Scared?"

Danny scoffed, "Of course not, I just don't want to hurt you on accident."

Laura rolled her eyes, "You can't."

"The confidence looks good on you, but this really isn't necessary."

Laura just gestured again and stood her ground.

With an exasperated groan Danny stood to her full height from the chair and rolled her shoulders, "Just remember that you asked for this."

Danny wasn't quite sure what happened after that, just that she'd been charging the smaller girl one second and the next she was hitting the ground with a loud thud, her arms pinned behind her back. Clearly, she'd underestimated Laura, but she wasn't going to back down just because she'd been surprised. Defeat was unacceptable for a Summer, in any circumstance. She bent her legs at the knee and used the momentum of swinging them down to whip her hips off the carpet, trying to dislodge the shorter girl. Laura's grip was iron, though, and all Danny succeeded in doing was banging her hipbone on the floor.

"Give up?" Laura asked, not even breathing hard.

Danny's response was to try and roll over. Laura's hand on her shoulder kept her firmly pinned in place. 

There was a long pause as Danny struggled, growling low in her throat at the clear difference in strength between her and Laura. It was baffling. After a few minutes, she stilled and sighed.

"Ugh, fine. I concede."

Laura released Danny and hauled her to her feet. 

"I can take care of myself," she ground out.

Danny got the distinct feeling it wasn't only directed at her. Not for the first time that night, Danny wondered what exactly Laura had been through before coming to Silas.

_Knock knock knock_

"Hello? Laura? Your neighbors reported some kind of loud noise?"

Laura rolled her eyes and stalked over to the door, "Everything's fine, Perry, Danny just tripped."

Danny glared at her but rolled with it as the door opened to reveal a pair of redheads, "Yep, clumsy me. Was pacing and caught the edge of the rug."

The ginger of the pair glanced pointedly at the distinctly rugless floor before shrugging. She took in their dishevelled appearances and waggled her eyebrows with a big grin, "Oh, tripped, sure. Happens all the time."

"Susan!" 

"LaFontaine," the ginger responded in a weary tone that said they'd had this exchange many times before. 

"I apologize for h-them, but s-they are just having fun. Are you alright, Danny?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she responded, watching as LaFontaine moved over to their board and started scrutinizing it with a critical eye.

"You're trying to extrapolate a pattern from so little data?"

"It's not like we have much of a choice, only the two girls have gone missing," Laura groused.

"Yeah, no. The other ones just came back."

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Danny and Laura shared a concerned glance as LaFontaine began to lay everything out for them.

* * *

Carmilla tore along the track, barely more than a blur as she tried to reach Tony before the shit inevitably hit the fan. She stopped only once, dipping into an outbuilding full of supplies. It took her a second, but she found what she was looking for: a jet black driver's helmet with a polarized visor perfect for an impromptu disguise. Mattie would certainly recognize her clothes, so she wouldn't be able to claim she'd sat out whatever was going to happen, but that was a problem for after whatever clusterfuck Tony had stumbled into.

Screams reached her ears and she peeled out of the storeroom, helmet strapped in place. By the time she reached the crowd, the man on the track had shed his top layer to reveal a harness pulsing with the same energy she'd seen Tony use a million times. A pair of long whips extended from the forearms of the rudimentary exoskeleton, and they were just as potent as Tony's repulsors if the cars neatly sliced into pieces were any indication. She muscled her way through the crowd just as the Stark Industries car made the turn onto the straightaway the bastard had positioned himself on. As soon as she was close enough, she tensed her legs and leapt the barrier fence, only able to watch in horror as the front of Tony's car was separated from the rest by one of those deadly plasma whips.

She darted into the path of the tumbling vehicle and braced herself. She and Tony locked eyes as the car flipped onto its front and she caught either side of the driver's compartment, rocking back on her heels as the full weight of what was left of the car hit her all at once. She ended up skidding back a good few feet, but managed to bleed enough of the momentum to rock forward and set the ruined frame back on the track. It wasn't gentle, but it got the job done. Tony was immediately scrambling out of the driver's seat, whipping off his helmet and coming to stand by her side.

"Carm?"

"Who else do you know who could play softball with a racecar, kiddo?"

"Point. Any idea who this guy is?" They both looked at the man responsible for this mess, currently standing in the middle of the track utterly unconcerned, merely observing them with an impassive look on his face.

"No clue, but he definitely has a bone to pick with you if he's willing to walk into oncoming traffic just for a shot."

"I have that effect on people."

"I'll definitely be taking _my_ shot after this is over, Anthony."

Tony cringed, but nodded, "Fair enough."

"If you two are finished," the man finally spoke in a thick Russian accent. He began stalkng toward them, occasionally whipping the pavement, carving deep furrows in the track.

"Hit the dirt, Tony!" Carmilla called and trusted him enough that she immediately grabbed the frame of what was left of Stark Industries' car and spun, gathering enough momentum to hurl it down the track at their assailant.

* * *

"So these two were gone for days and no one thought to, you know, look for them?" Laura asked incredulously. "Seriously, what's wrong with this place? Deal with enough weird crap and you just stop caring?"

"Essentially," LaFontaine replied immediately. "When people routinely end up testing the Alchemy Club's 'projects' for weeks at a time, the Library likes to occasionally disappear its contents, and the campus has an official club for those who've 'glimpsed the other side' people tend to just write things off."

Laura gaped at them, "I knew things were weird on campus, but I guess I haven't been here long enough to really see just how weird."

Danny nodded, "Yeah, even the Summer Society has its strangeness. Rituals and rites and such. It's actually how we knew Elsie was missing, she missed a pretty important one."

Perry's gaze was bouncing back and forth between the three of them, "Look, Laura, don't let LaFontaine spook you with any fanciful stories, there's nothing weird about Silas. Everything has a logical explanation."

Laura raised an eyebrow, "I'm not concerned with some oddities here and there. I'm from New York City. I personally watched some sort of sorceror fighting a vigilante in a spider-themed costume _on_ the side of a building." _Being in the costume counts as watching, right? I watched it later on the news and I'm still not sure how to feel about magic being real. Or about magicians being pricks._

Perry shot her a disbelieving look while LaFontaine nodded eagerly, "I remember that. I make it a point to watch anything and everything related to any kind of heroics. Especially Arachne-related news, she doesn't wear a suit of armor like Iron Man, so it must be some kind of biological mutation giving her the abilities she's displayed. I wish I could talk to her, or maybe collect some samples," they pulled a syringe from somewhere on their person and it took everything Laura had to not visibly react. The last time someone had talked about "samples" around her, they'd been trying to take her head off with a set of mechanical octopus arms, so forgive her discomfort. LaFontaine gave a cough and stashed the needle, shooting her an apologetic look. Apparently, she hadn't quite been able to hide how uncomfortable she was. "Sorry, Bio major, I get a little overeager sometimes."

"It's fine, really, just maybe a little too intense."

"Duly noted."

_Chime_

Laura's ears perked up at the alert noise from her laptop and she made her way over to the desk, curious which alert had pinged. Her eyes widened as she saw the headlines and knew that it was the one she'd set for Iron Man related news. She clicked the live feed just in time to watch as a female figure clad in leather and wearing a racing helmet managed to catch a car missing it's front end skidding along the track.

"Holy shit..." Danny whispered from next to her.

* * *

The bisected pieces of the car landed at the man's flanks, a quick swipe of his whips proving more than effective against Carmilla's makeshift projectile.

"Get out of here, Tony. I'll handle this," she ground out, stalking forward, keeping an eye out for even the smallest twitch of muscle from her adversary.

"Not a chance."

"This isn't a fucking game, Tony, get out of here!"

"But..."

He was cut off as Carmilla tackled him out of the way of a particularly vicious swing. She physically threw him further down the track and squared off with the person who'd nearly cut him down again. Tony looked around for anything to help them as Carm weaved between deadly arcs of plasma, biding her time until an opening presented itself.

"Tony!" a voice called from behind.

He spun and nearly fainted with relief at the sight of Happy at the wheel of his car, Pepper shouting out the passenger window. He bolted in their direction, trying to tune out the sounds of fighting behind him.

* * *

Carmilla was getting more annoyed by the second. Her speed and reflexes kept her ahead of her opponent by a mile, but he was a crafty one, keeping her on her toes by using his whips to create wide areas where she couldn't be lest she lose a limb and sending strikes at her from odd angles.

_If_ she could get to him, she was confident she could dispatch him without any effort, but it was proving a bitch and a half just to move the few feet that separated them.

Twist around a vertical sweep, leap over the low strike, hit the dirt to get under the follow up, roll to the side to avoid another vertical hit, glare at the dickhead trying to kill her and her godson, rinse, repeat.

It was getting old quick. Her super speed and enhanced reflexes gave her the edge but her lack of protection meant she had to act with an overabundance of caution. At the same time, she had to keep him engaged enough that he couldn't afford to keep going after Tony. It was a balancing act that was keeping her from cutting loose. Anyone else with almost any other weapon and she'd already have planted his face into the pavement and sauntered off to go deal with Tony and Mattie before returning to Silas.

There was a lull as she leapt back, running an evaluating eye over her opponent. He was breathing a little harder but didn't seem to be visibly tiring, probably because he was keeping his movements economical, covering the widest area he could while having to move relatively little in return. Part of her wanted to try her panther form and see if she could eat his stupid, smug face, but word of that was certain to get back to Mother and she was still confident enough in her cover to not blow it just yet.

Just as they were both squaring up for another round, the crowd erupted and they both followed the excited gesturing to see Tony's briefcase unfolding across his body, small plates interlocking to form a slimmer red and silver version of his standard armor.

As soon as the helmet clicked shut, he fired a repulsor blast at their assailant, who just barely managed to lean out of the way. It was enough of a distraction for Carmilla to get in close, delivering a powerful straight kick to his midsection that sent him tumbling down the track.

Tony was at her side in a second, "You good?"

"Yep, I felt something crack, so I think we've got him. Any idea who the hell he is? That's definitely an arc reactor."

"No idea, but why don't we ask the man?" Tony replied flippantly, hovering off the ground and approaching the still fallen figure, repulsors already whining as they charged. Carmilla let Tony take point, considering his ranged options, but still followed a few paces behind, ready for anything.

Well, almost anything. Neither of them were expecting the loud chorus of raspy laughter from the man. He stood slowly, chuckling to himself as he swung the whips wide, biting into the track once more. "Not the only one, Stark." His voice was pained but his smile was wide. Every inch of his expression was smugness and spite.

"I'm still the pretty one, though, so I have that to fall back on if the whole genius inventor thing doesn't work out. Any chance you're going to tell me where you got that tech?"

The man's response was to lash out at Tony, ensnaring his right ankle in a crackling loop of energy. It bit hard into the armor and Tony cried out as he was yanked down, the other whip coming around to wrap around his torso. Sparks flew as the channeled plasma dug into the outer layer of the armored suit. Carmilla was at the man in a breath, grabbing him by his scraggly hair and forcing his head into the path of a savage knee strike. His grip on Tony remained strong and she brought his now bloody face up to meet the blank visor of her stolen helmet.

"Let. Him. Go."

His only response was to laugh and redecorate her helmet with bloody spittle.

"You fucking asked for it," she snarled, grabbing him by the wrists and clamping down with all of her not inconsiderable strength. The metal of the harness gave first, sparks flying as it was destroyed beyond repair. Next came muscle and skin, tearing beneath the force she exerted. Finally, she felt bone splinter and shatter, biting into her palms. The entire excruciating time, he kept his eyes locked at where hers should be, stone faced, enduring the pain with little more than a clenching of the teeth.

She heard Tony hit the ground beind them and he was at their side a moment later, ripping the arc reactor from its seat in the center of the man's chest and crushing it as Carmilla had his arms.

Carmilla let him collapse backward with a pained groan. Still, he smiled at them, teeth stained red and wrists utterly ruined.

"You lose."

Carmilla and Tony looked to each other before following his line of sight to the people in the stands. Reporters swarmed the fence line, cameras rolling. The bloody, broken man on the ground laughed as best he could around his destroyed nose.

* * *

_Knock knock_

Carmilla, still wrapped in a towel after her shower, grimaced at the stately knock on her hotel room door, "I'll be there in a second, Mattie."

"Take your time, my dear, we have so much to discuss."

"I'm too tired for this shit," Carmilla let the towel fall to the ground and slipped into her pajamas. She walked over and unlocked the door before flopping into bed and closing her eyes. "Come in, just lock the door behind you."

She felt the bed dip next to her, and Mattie's arm along the length of her own, "I think it's time we had a chat, little one."

Carmilla sighed, "I have no idea what Mother told you about why I was buried, but it all started with a girl name Elle..."


End file.
